Boy on a Ram
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
As painter to the king of Spain, Francisco de Goya also designed tapestries for the royal residences. To work out his designs, he first made small oil sketches and followed them with full-scale painted cartoons that served as guides for the king's weavers. This cartoon was produced for a tapestry in a series decorating the dining room in the Royal Palace of El Pardo, outside Madrid.
Colors in this work
Details
- Date
- 1786–87
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 127.2 × 112.1 cm (50 1/16 × 44 1/8 in.); Framed: 153.7 × 138.4 × 12.7 cm (60 1/2 × 54 1/2 × 5 in.)
- Origin
- Spain
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Holding institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Palette
-
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- Image provider
- art-institute-chicago
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Brooks McCormick
Art Genome Taxonomy
11 tags
Subject Matter
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Childhood Both · 99%
The central figure is visibly a child, and the museum metadata identifies the subject as a boy or child.
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Animals Both · 99%
A large ram is the dominant animal in the composition, and the museum metadata explicitly lists ram and animals among the subjects.
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Figures in Nature Visual · 98%
The child and ram are situated outdoors among trees, bushes, a path, distant hills, and open sky.
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Landscapes Both · 98%
The scene includes a rural path, trees, bushes, clouds, sky, distant terrain, and vegetation; these elements are also recorded in the museum subject metadata.
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Movement Visual · 84%
The riding pose, raised switch, separated legs, and forward-stepping stance of the ram create an implied sense of action.
Visual Qualities
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Earth Tones Visual · 91%
The palette is dominated by greens, browns, ochres, creams, and tan earth colors, contrasted by the blue sky and red-pink sash.
Medium and Techniques
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Large Brushstrokes/Loose Brushwork Visual · 90%
Visible, painterly brushwork appears throughout the clouds, foliage, clothing, and the ram’s fur and body.
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Oil Painting Metadata · 100%
The museum record specifies the medium as oil on canvas.
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Study Metadata · 98%
The work is described as a full-scale painted cartoon made to guide tapestry weavers, and the museum classification includes sketch and cartoon.
Time Periods
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18th Century Art Metadata · 100%
The museum dates the work to 1786–87, placing it in the eighteenth century.
Geographic Regions
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Spanish Art Metadata · 99%
The artist is identified as Spanish, and the museum record gives Spain as the place of origin.
Source & rights
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. Boy on a Ram. The Art Institute of Chicago.
High-resolution sources
- IIIF image service ↗ 1,686 × 1,902 · Art Institute Chicago · Availability not yet probed